I'm not doubting I just have a question about the size. Is the uF the capacity? Its only 530uF but its size seems way larger compared to the 120uF....old tech maybe???

IDK I might try it.

The "uF" is micro farad which is the capacitance size.Old tech caps for high voltage rating of a capacitor was to increase the thickness of the dielectric making the physical size larger. Not true with new tech. Technology has changed. I bought some caps to replace in my old tube amp and the new 450v caps were 1/4 smaller than the originals

For those that are looking for the so called "Magic" 75v, I want to make something clear..........75v worked for the capacitance that I used. If you are using more or less capacitance, your "Magic" voltage will be different. Trial and error will determine your "Magic" number.340uF @ 74v-75v works best for me.

Breaktru,Doesn't seem like my power supply ideas are taking....but one of my old pc power supplies has a couple 460uf 200v caps. Would using one of those work as long as the voltage stayed under 200v? If so how hard would it be to regulate under 200v?

no matter what i do, silver wont work. id love to see a video, or at least a pic of a silver wire that actually welded to another wire...im starting to think its not possible.

I just came out of my work shop and made several 30ga Silver .999 to 32ga Nichrome and some 30ga Silver .999 to 28ga Kanthal. All done the first shot with the magic 75v and a total capacitance of 340uF. Oh BTW just found out that the on board cap for the FujiFilm is 120uF. 220 + 120 = 340uF.

After using this thing for a few days, you get the hang of it. The hardest thing for me is getting an over-lap tack. I even have one lead set in a vise clamp so not to be too shaky. I found a solution to the single point tack. I take a piece of copper strand and tack weld along the adjacent wires. Good solid connection. It's like spot welding.

Breaktru,Doesn't seem like my power supply ideas are taking....but one of my old pc power supplies has a couple 460uf 200v caps. Would using one of those work as long as the voltage stayed under 200v? If so how hard would it be to regulate under 200v?

Thanks for all the knowledge!!!

That power supply may make a nice battery tab spot welder. Seems like over kill for just some measly coil wires.

BTW: I tried spot welding metal tabs for possible battery spot welding with the Spark-O-Matic w/ nails as probes. Not enough juice. Maybe if I had thinner or different metal type. I tried it on some roof flashing I had laying around the garage.

That power supply may make a nice battery tab spot welder. Seems like over kill for just some measly coil wires.

BTW: I tried spot welding metal tabs for possible battery spot welding with the Spark-O-Matic w/ nails as probes. Not enough juice. Maybe if I had thinner or different metal type. I tried it on some roof flashing I had laying around the garage.

Well up untill a few minutes ago I didn't have any extra parts.....but that isn't the case anymore

But I would love a battery tab welder!!! I have several pc power supplies as well as some 12v, 24v, and a single 48 volt meanwell power supplies.

JM with a bunch of cameras do you have it set up similar to Breaktru with more capacitors and using less voltage?

*edit* seen ecf post....what about wire thicknesses?

i tried adding 1 120uf 330v, and then a second 100uf 300v i think it was...definately makes it more stable and sits at voltages longer...but for some reason silver isnt sticking at all. hmm...guess ill just keep zapping away till i do get it. 75v's seem to work great for all other wire i have, nickel is on its way so ill find out about that end of the week.

i tried adding 1 120uf 330v, and then a second 100uf 300v i think it was...definately makes it more stable and sits at voltages longer...but for some reason silver isnt sticking at all. hmm...guess ill just keep zapping away till i do get it. 75v's seem to work great for all other wire i have, nickel is on its way so ill find out about that end of the week.

Well I joined the stock pile club today so I should be flashing wires together soon....probably spend tonight taking cameras apart .....I have no idea how many I have beside more than enough

But I don't have any of 99% dead soft wire....I'll have to get some coming to try

I plan on building my first unit with 3x120uF caps for 360uf total...that should get close to Breaktru's 340uF and 75v sweet spot

Yeah, you were right about the voltage of those caps. The voltage seems to be WAY too low. Only tried briefly, but could not get a decent charge from them added in parallel. Still have a few 35v caps to try later on.

And for the record....yeah, 250 volts stings like a motherfucker! I need to tape up the clips that I'm using cuz the insulation SUCKS!

I have gotten a few successful welds just out of the stock flash assembly (using 32ga Kanthal and I think 30ga .999 silver), but have yet to get any consistency between welds.

amazing! so...i can see that when you say stable, you mean stable. even with the addition of 2 other caps, mine is always slowly dropping in voltage....never stable like your video. think i may just use a new fuji board to see if thatll fix the voltage drop.

amazing! so...i can see that when you say stable, you mean stable. even with the addition of 2 other caps, mine is always slowly dropping in voltage....never stable like your video. think i may just use a new fuji board to see if thatll fix the voltage drop.

Okay, you have the same capacitance as me. Try over shooting by going to 90v and let it drop. It should stabilize at some point.Are these used caps? and are they electrolytic. They should have polarity markings.

Breaktru, was your Fuji board a aaa? It looks to me like the Fuji cameras come in aaa or aa and the aa have a longer capacitor the same diameter as the aaa. I'm not sure if that means its a different size.

Okay, you have the same capacitance as me. Try over shooting by going to 90v and let it drop. It should stabilize at some point.Are these used caps? and are they electrolytic. They should have polarity markings.

just ripped em out of the cameras, they do have polarity markings. even when over shooting to 90v, it still drops and never stabilizes.

edit: just tried 2 more flash boards and few other caps to see if any combo would eventually stabilize, no luck.

soldering the caps makes no difference that i can tell....hmm, still seems to be the same drop.

baps, can you try and see if youre experiencing the same voltage drop with any flash board and a few caps?

Will do I planned on soldering from the beginning, going to try to get it together tonight. I believe Breaktru started with AAA Fuji board and added a single 220uF capacitor, so I'm also going to start with a AAA Fuji (but use a AA battery) and add a 120uF and 100uF cap to try to match Breaktru as close as possible. I went through all my flashes and came up with a couple with 100uF caps and like three with 80uF caps. The Fuji's seem to come in a AA version and a AAA version, everything looks identical except for the battery holder and the AA version has a longer cap of the same diameter as the AAA.

Breaktru,What size resistor did you use for the discharge button? And did you just add it between the + and - of the cap?

First Breaktru, thanks for all of the work that you've done in getting the wire welder put together. I've been following the thread here and on ECF for a couple of days now.

I've got a Fuji board that had a AAA battery installed. I'm guessing that the cap is probably around 100 uF from the pictures I've seen and also comparing it to the 120 uF cap from the Kodak board that I scavenged.

Is there an advantage to pulling the cap off of the board and swapping in two of the caps for a total of 440 uF? From what I'm seeing, I'd assume that my target voltage for kanthal and silver wire welding would be less that the 70 V that you've been using.

Also, do you think that the bleeder circuit would work better with 30 K ohms?

And last, since I will be using a AA battery as a power source, will a 1.7 V LED work in the power on circuit? It seems to be the lowest voltage LED that my local RadioShack carries.

I've got a Fuji board that had a AAA battery installed. I'm guessing that the cap is probably around 100 uF from the pictures I've seen and also comparing it to the 120 uF cap from the Kodak board that I scavenged.

As per the narrator in the FUJI CAMERA FLASH MOD video in this thread, the cap is a 120uF

Is there an advantage to pulling the cap off of the board and swapping in two of the caps for a total of 440 uF? From what I'm seeing, I'd assume that my target voltage for kanthal and silver wire welding would be less that the 70 V that you've been using.

It's your choice. I use 340uF @ 75v. The same 75v worked for 30ga silver, 32ga Nichrome and 28ga KanthalIf your going to use a different capacitance (440uF), you'll have to find the right voltage. Also resistance of the leads, connections and length may play a part on the output voltage needed. So experiment.

And last, since I will be using a AA battery as a power source, will a 1.7 V LED work in the power on circuit? It seems to be the lowest voltage LED that my local RadioShack carries.Thanks!

I went thru a pile of LED's to find one to work on a fresh battery (1.6v). It worked good until this morning when I measured the battery at 1.45v.So I went through some more LED's and found one that worked w/ the lower voltage.This morning I went on line and found some that are bright at low voltage. You need a 940nm which is a forward voltage of 1.35v to 1.6vI opted for highest Radiant intensity.This is actually an Infrared LED: TSAL5100

Update:If you are going to install a panel meter, you won't need the ON indication LED and the charge LED is really not necessary.